


Stiff joints

by ToodleBoog



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Fluff, I'm Sorry, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 07:27:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19662634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToodleBoog/pseuds/ToodleBoog
Summary: Tailgate and cyclonus are cuddling, when a problem arises...





	Stiff joints

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little something I've been working on to waste time and try to work on my writing, I've been slackin' lately and need to get back in the swing, soooooo here yall go!

Stiff joints. 

This was cyclonus’ downfall. Stiff joints meant less reaction time, which meant he couldn't function as well as he should have been. He was old, that part he would give, but life on the lost light was… well,  _ stressful. _

The few calm moments that he  _ did _ manage to salvage usually only lasted a minute or two, everything was hectic when tailgate was your conjunx. He was constantly trying  _ bring _ him places, which was all good in fun, but his top choices were places that were  _ loud _ and  _ crowded _ . 

Tonight however he had managed to catch tailgate in a cuddly mood, his lover draped across his chest as he read a datapad. Nuzzling his face mask into his broad chest plates.

Cyclonus smiled, setting the pad down and gathering him up in his arms, petting his helm. Tailgate leaned up and pressed his faceplate against cyclonus’ lips, with full intent to kiss. He brought his hands up to play with the holes in his cheeks, something he did rather often. If cyclonus had to guess, he'd say he had quite the fascination with them. 

Cyclonus made sure to tongue the small vent holes on tailgates faceplate, letting out a chuckle when tailgate choked up and shivered. he seemed to melt into his arms. His servos moved around lazily inside cyclonus’ cheeks, dragging his digits over his denta. 

As one hand lazily fidgeted inside his mouth, another hand went around the back of his neck to brace himself. By accident, his hand grazed across cyclonus’ flight sensor that was somewhat accessible through the seams in his plating. cyclonus didn't think that either of them were expecting the responding jolt. 

Tailgate had taken his fingers and ran them from bottom to top of the sensor, the touch confusing his systems and making him feel like he was free falling, his whole body suddenly losing perspective of what was up and down. he jolted so hard he nearly fell off the berth and he grabbed tailgate close to his chest, almost denting his plating in the process. They both sat there in shock for a moment before tailgate spoke.

“You ok?” 

Cyclonus realised that he was still holding tailgate tight and he relaxed his grip, wincing in pain as his neck twinged. Tailgate saw this and immediately found the problem with his servo, untangling the cables with precision. It happened so fast that cyclonus was taken aback for a second. He tried moving it and found that it felt even better than before.

“How…” cyclonus muttered, wide-eyed, rubbing the cables on his neck with his servo. Tailgate smiled, his visor squinting

“Me and the other waste disposal bots’ cables would tangle from time to time because we worked near constantly. We would take turns straightening each other out all the time,” tailgate explained. 

“Tailgate...” Cyclonus paused. He didn't know how to word it. He wanted tailgate to do that again. He wanted tailgate to do it all over his body. He hadn’t had this amount of mobility in his neck in hundreds of years. “I've never had anyone do that to me before…”

Tailgate looked at him and his visor brightened in surprise.

“You mean to tell me you just let it get all tangled up?!” tailgate asked shocked. Cyclonus stayed silent. 

“Do you want me to fix it?” tailgate asked, slightly catching on. He nodded.

In a matter of seconds he was flipped over onto his front, face down into the berth and tailgate already straddling his waist. He grumbled, having already gotten on to tailgate for using his strength to move him before. Tailgate apologised, rubbing his wings. Almost immediately cyclonus hummed, closing his eyes and pressing his head into the berth. Tailgate stopped.

“Cyclonus?” 

Cyclonus opened his eyes to then realise that his engine was purring. He taped on the bed to signal that he was fine and tailgate giggled.

“You like that?” he asked, grounding his palms against the wide plating of his wings. Cyclonus transformed his plating to allow Tailgate better access, his armour flaring out and relaxing. He mumbled a yes into the recharge slab. 

Tailgates fingers went almost immediately to the new gaps and started to untangle the cables. There was one particular cable that when it was tweaked, his hand would twitch. Tailgate took pleasure in torturing that wire for a good few moments before cyclonus grumbled for him to cut it out. 

Tailgate obliged and focused his ministrations on the edges of his plating, particularly the joint where they connected to his torso. He played with it for a good while, when all of a sudden there was a 'shhnkt', and a clatter as it fell to the floor. Cyclonus sat there wide eyed and confused as he realized that tailgate had just  _ medically removed _ one of his armor plates.

"... Tailgate..?" he said after a pause. The minibot had frozen entirely.

"Uhhhh, was that supposed to happen? Did you do that?! Please tell me that was you cyclonus!" he said, panic rising in his voice.

"Calm down little one, if I'm guessing correctly, then that was the plate right next to my secondary wings, correct?" He waited for an answer, but all he got was heavy and uneven venting and a scared minibot trying to clamber off his back. 

"Tailgate it's alright, really, I'm fine-" he paused as he looked at his conjunx, who was looking at the plating like some sort of corpse. He sighed and picked up his armor and then minibot.

"Oh, Cyclonus I am so sorry- I-i didn't mean to hurt you! Oh primus what are we going to do, h-how are we going to fix it? What do I tell ratchet?!" Tailgate started hyperventilating, his movement became jerky and erratic, his hands couldn't decide if they wanted to be tucked under his chest or stay at his sides and he kept looking around the room, his head snapping back and forth. A panic attack.

Cyclonus, as calmly as he could, set the piece of armor down and curled the minibot Into a ball, tucking him close to his chest like he was a sparkling and holding him tightly. He tried to hold as much of him as he could, supporting every piece of tailgate that his arms would cover. Tailgate seemed to calm down a little bit. He pet the back of his hood, shushing him and swaying back and forth in hopes that he would stop shaking. After a while his cooling fans started to wind down and his venting became less jagged.

"shhh, little one, Just breathe, all is well, I've got you. It's all right." He held him tighter and noticed his plating was cold to the touch. Dangerously so. 

In the midst of panic tailgates temperature regulatory system kicked cooling all the way up in preparation with a fight or flight response. Without using any of his body, his core temperature plummeted. Cyclonus went to their storage cabinet and grabbed a weighted mesh blanket from one of the shelves. Something tailgate had gotten a while ago for situations like this one, but more recently cyclonus found the two of them cuddling in it. 

He grabbed it and swaddled tailgate in it, sitting down on the berth and then wrapping himself around the minibot. After a while It was enough to get tailgates fans turning again. Cyclonus breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tailgate, are you alright?"

There was a small, muffled 'yeah' from somewhere in the blanket, then a shuffle of moment as he moved the meshes aside from his face. 

"Are you really ok Cyclonus?" Tailgate asked, looking up at him. 

"Of course, little one. It's just armor, and it's supposed to be able to do that anyways. Even you have armor that detaches, I'm sure you know." Cyclonus said, picking up the piece armor. He looked at the hinges on the sides where it connected to his protoform. the hinges and (few) tension cables expertly removed. He flexed the part where the plate should have attached on his back and felt a small strut wiggle.

"You're sure I didn't hurt you?" Tailgate asked quietly. Cyclonus rumbled a soft yes. 

After a moment of loving quiet tailgate spoke again.

"Wait really?” tailgate said, looking up at him from the bundle of blankets around his neck. Cyclonus onlined optics he hadn't even known he'd turned off

"Well- most likely..." Cyclonus paused, thinking. "Actually… I'm not entirely sure. Removal plates are for deep internal repair by a medic, something that many disposables weren't forged with the opportunity to have done. Deep internal wounds were usually fatal." He said, cuddling the bundle closer. 

The blanket shifted as tailgate reached his arms out. Cyclonus sat back to give him room when he felt small servos on his cheeks. He looked down and tailgate pulled his head to his, touching their foreheads together. Cyclonus smiled, the bridge of his nose touching the rim of tailgates mask.

"Cy?"

"Yes, little one?"

"I love you!"


End file.
